joining me is wayne slater, senior political reporter for "the dallas morning news" and author of two books about rove, "the architect" and "bush's brain." thanks for being here tonight. >> great to be with you. >> you've covered karl rover maybe more than anyone. what was going on? >> remarkable. you had the word exactly right. it was denight. much of what i've seen karl, when he's been in action is as an analyst, where he looks at the numbers. he's a supreme aris ontilian nerd. what we saw that night was someone in absolute denial. he was effectively looking at the situation and not accepting the reality of the moment. it was as if he, like so many people have been watching conservative media, fox news, rush limbaugh, peggy newman, you look at other people who have said it would be romney in a landslide, they had an alternative reality that they were watching. i think karl may have bought into that. and at the moment when it was clear that it was all falling apart, and that he had taken millions of dollars from several billionaires, he was in denial. >> the last part of what you sai